Album: Sufjan Stevens/Osso, Run Rabbit Run (Asthmatic Kitty)

Just a couple of weeks after his film soundtrack, The BQE, further proof that Sufjan Stevens is the most protean young talent of the new millennium arrives in the shape of Run Rabbit Run, on which his 2001 electronic concept album based on the Chinese zodiac, Enjoy Your Rabbit, is transposed for the string quartet Osso.

The results range from the impulsive "Year of the Ox" and the furtive "Year of the Rat" to the elegant poise of "Year of the Horse". Throughout, a variety of bowing techniques, string-damping and body-tapping is employed to represent the glitches and pulses of the electronic originals. A fascinating, if not entirely satisfying, experiment.

Download this Year of the Ox; Year of the Rat